OCC Issues Cease and Desist Order Against Citibank, N.A.

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today issued a cease and desist order against Citibank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its underlying regulations.

The order requires the bank to take comprehensive corrective actions to improve its BSA compliance program.

The OCC found that the bank’s BSA compliance program had deficiencies with respect to internal controls, customer due diligence, the independent BSA and anti-money laundering audit function, monitoring of its remote deposit capture and international cash letter instrument processing in connection with foreign correspondent banking, and suspicious activity reporting related to that monitoring. These findings resulted in violations by the bank of statutory and regulatory requirements to maintain an adequate BSA compliance program, file suspicious activity reports, and conduct appropriate due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts.

The bank has begun corrective action, and has committed to taking all necessary and appropriate steps to remedy the deficiencies identified by the OCC and to enhance the bank’s BSA compliance program.